Modern automobiles present a driver with a multitude of stimuli in the form of information, such as infotainment information, navigation information, driving condition information and vehicle status information. Additionally, stimuli is also presented to a driver from personal devices, such as smartphones. A driver is often required to operate a vehicle while being presented with these and other various stimuli. These stimuli can cause the driver to reduce the attention being paid to operating the vehicle. Additionally, where the driver must physically interact with various vehicle systems, a driver may be forced to divert his or her eyes from the roadway, resulting in a dangerous driving condition. Finally, stimuli related to personal devices, such as text messages received on a mobile device, can significantly affect a driver's ability to operate an automobile.
To address the concern of a driver responding to various stimuli while driving, automobile manufacturers have developed gesture based control systems for automobiles. These control systems can use voice recognition, motion recognition (i.e. physical gesture), or various other methods or combinations of methods for detecting and interpreting the commands of a driver, thereby removing the requirement that the driver reach or visually search for a physical control device (i.e. push-button, rotary knob, touch screen interface, etc.). However, these devices are limited as they can often allow a passenger to unintentionally control the system while moving about the vehicle cabin. This can results in unwanted interaction with various systems of the vehicle. Furthermore, by allowing a passenger access to all of the automobile's subsystems, a driver's privacy can be reduced as the passenger may be able to access private information presented by various vehicle systems. For example, displaying a text message or e-mail received via a mobile device such as a smartphone.
Finally, some vehicle systems are configured to prevent a driver from accessing certain information while the vehicle is in motion. Examples can be text messages or e-mails received via a mobile device, navigation systems, and other systems which may cause the driver to be distracted while driving. While a passenger may be able to perform these tasks without fear of distracting the driver, modern systems may not allow control to be transferred from the driver to a passenger enabling the passenger to use vehicle functions that would otherwise be dangerous to provide to the driver.